


Cold Cold Man

by ninaarcher



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Domestic Fluff, Fluff and Angst, I want to tag the thing from the end but that's a spoiler and I refuse, M/M, also I'm v sorry about how angsty it is before the end that wasn't intentional, badly handled emotional distress, it's cute tho I promise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-01
Updated: 2015-08-01
Packaged: 2018-04-12 08:43:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4472795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ninaarcher/pseuds/ninaarcher
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eren's been noticing some weird things about Jean. He's...colder. More distant than he was in the beginning. Eren doesn't like it. It scares him, so he locks Jean out of their apartment.</p><p>Shamelessly based on Saint Motel's song "Cold Cold Man"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cold Cold Man

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys(: I'm going to go ahead and apologize for Eren's terrible emotional management skills. I do not endorse handling issues with your S.O. like this. Use your words, friends.
> 
> Also! If you listen to the song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B977tJeEYpE) while reading, it should just about line up. If you listen carefully, there's some hidden backstory pulled straight from the song. Also also, we're going to pretend the song doesn't exist for the boys. It makes the end a lot less cheesy and possibly less annoying-cute and more honest-cute.

"Eren! Eren, please let me in!" Jean's voice filters through the heavy door of their shared apartment, followed by the unmistakable sound made by the flat of his hand meeting the surface once and sliding down. The way Eren sees it, Jean's the one with his name on the lease, so he should be the one who gets kicked out. “Eren, love, come on. At least open the door so we can talk about this. Leave the chain on, fine, but please look at me.” He’s not even trying to bargain; that’s straight to pleading. Eren crosses his arms and pouts more, even though Jean can’t see it. “No,” he says shortly.

“Eren!”

“No, I’m not opening the fucking door.”

“At least tell me what this is about.”

Locking the door on Jean was a spur-of-the-moment decision, but Eren didn’t really want to look at his boyfriend right now. “I don’t want to. But you should probably find somewhere else to sleep for tonight, okay? Go stay with Marco or Connie or someone.”

There’s a loud bang that Eren can only assume is Jean’s foot meeting the door, followed by a soft flump and the sound of something sliding down to the floor again. Reluctantly, Eren looks out the peephole into the hallway, but Jean appears to be gone. “...Hello?” There’s no answer.

Leaving the chain securely latched, Eren turns the handle, and is surprised by the weight that immediately forces the door to the end of the chain. Eren looks down, and finds the top of Jean’s head leaning against the door. He doesn’t look up, just keeps staring at the patch of floor between his boots. 

Eren slams the door closed on him, and hears Jean’s head bounce off the door, followed by some colorful language that old Mrs. Leary across the hall is surely hearing and frowning at. “You’re one cold, heartless bastard, you know that?”

“Says the guy who just slammed a door on me.”

“I wouldn’t have had to slam the door if you hadn’t been sitting against it!”

“I wouldn’t have been sitting against it if you hadn’t locked me out.”

“I wouldn’t have locked you out if you weren’t one cold dude.”

Jean sighs and hits his head on the door again, intentionally this time. Or so Eren assumes. The brunet puts his back to the door and slides down to the floor, pulling his knees up and mimicking Jean’s pose on the other side. “What do you mean, I’m a cold dude?”

Eren hesitates. He never really wanted to say it out loud, and now that that’s what he’s considering, it seems a little harsh. Even if it is true. “Do you even still like me?”

“What?! Eren, I love you. You know that.”

He fidgets, gnawing absently on the knuckle of his thumb. “Sure. Sure I know that. I love you too. But, like...do you still like me?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

He keeps forgetting Jean can’t see him, and shakes his head. “Hell if I know, but recently, it’s like I have to drag affection out of you. You used to be all about it when I’d hang all over you, remember? Nowadays it feels like you just sort of...let it happen. Especially in public.”

“Jesus Christ, Eren, you’re worried about us because we’re not in the honeymoon stage anymore? We’ve been together for like two and a half years now, I’m pretty sure it’s normal to have moved past that by now.”

Eren shoots Jean a dirty look over his shoulder and through the door. “No, Horseface, I’m worried that you’re still with me because you love me but not because you actually like me anymore. Look,” he sighs. “I know what we were like when we were honeymoon phase. I know what we were like after that. And I know what we’re like now. And I’m just saying, man, I don’t really know what to call this, but it doesn’t feel good.”

There’s a bunch of indeterminate shuffling on the other side of the door. Jean must be moving around, but he’s still awfully quiet for Eren’s taste. Did he just fuck things up even worse than they already are?

“Eren, please open the door.” He’s not begging or anything now. He’s just asking.

“No, Jean, I already said I’m not–”

“Please. I want to look you in the eye while I say this, okay?”

“...I’m leaving the chain on.”

“Okay. So long as we can see each other.”

Eren cracks open the door to find Jean already facing him, hazel eyes glittering under worried eyebrows. He can’t bring himself to look Jean in the eye for more than a few seconds at a time.

“I’m sorry, Eren,” Jean says at half a normal volume. “I know I’ve been weird for the last few weeks. I’m sorry I’m not as good at public displays of affection as I was when we first got together.” He reaches a hand through the gap and covers Eren’s with it. “But I do still very much love you. And like you. I like you a lot. I...” He hesitates, running his thumb back and forth over the outlines of the bones in Eren’s hand. 

Eren can’t bring himself to draw his hand away. He’s too much a physical person, and he’ll take what he can get. Especially right now. And maybe, when he really thinks about it, Jean hasn’t been like this for as long as it’s felt. Maybe it really has only been a couple of weeks, and when you’ve been together for two and a half years, two and a half weeks of some minorly strange behavior isn’t so much of a speedbump that it requires locking someone out...

“I know I’ve been kinda weird lately. I’ve been slow to tell you how perfect you are.” He blushes, as if he can’t believe he’s saying something so cheesy. Eren can’t really believe it either. Jean’s never this cheesy. “I’ve been bad at physical affection. I've pretty much been a shitty boyfriend for the last little bit. But, if you want..." Jean slides his other hand through the gap and takes Eren's between both of his own, squeezing gently before drawing both hands back into his own space and looking at Eren with an expression of, not quite expectancy, but openness and honesty. Eren's brow furrows in confusion for a second before Jean continues. 

"If you want, I'd like to spend a long, long time–forever, even–making it up to you. Putting your doubts to rest. 'Cause, Eren... You're the only one worth seeing, the only place worth being, and the only one I'd be happy to spend the rest of my life with." 

Eren turns his hand over and stares, dumbfounded, at the ring Jean's left sitting in his palm.

The blond laughs nervously. "Please don't make me crash with Marco. The only bed I want to sleep in is yours." He blushes redder and looks down briefly. "Well. Yours and mine. Ours." He glances up through his eyelashes at his still-silent boyfriend. "Eren, please let me in so I can ask you properly."

Eren slams the door on him. Again. 

He can almost hear Jean's shock through the door as he scrambles to his feet and undoes the chain in record time. Jean is still wearing an expression of total shock when Eren throws the door open and himself at Jean. 

Jean must recover quickly, though, because he wraps his arms around Eren's waist and holds him close, not giving him a chance to say anything. 

"Eren, will you marry me?"

Eren just kisses him and nods, with limited success. "Yes," he breathes against his fiancé's lips, "I'll marry you, you cold, cold man."

**Author's Note:**

> ...look, I did warn you that Eren is really bad at handling the situation. But it all worked out, yeah?
> 
> If anyone is interested, I may write this from Jean's POV. We all know where it's headed now, but Jean's side of the door has some pretty interesting goings-on, too. As always, feel free to leave feedback here in the comments, or on Tumblr, where I am always available under the url ghostmarco.


End file.
